Penance
by TheWaspInAWig
Summary: An aging Michael Lane decides that it is time to finally atone for the sins he's committed against Gotham.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I've elected to end Running Gag in favor of this story. Now I've time to write properly, but I couldn't find a way to salvage it in any satisfying way for myself or you all. I hope you enjoy this story just as much, and if you want to know how Running Gag ended, I'll happily tell you over PM. Enjoy!**

 **/**

 **Chapter 1: Azrael**

 _"... nearly eight years after the disappearance of Bruce Wayne, whose massive estate and fortune were divided between his children. The monument at Park Row, funded by charitable donation from the Wayne children, will serve as a shining reminder of Bruce's constant contributions both nationwide and to his hometown. May he be remembered as one of Gotham's greatest sons. Vicki Vale, signing off."_ _ **Click**_.

Michael Lane shut off his television, looking out his apartment window to the glittering lights of Gotham below. No matter how old he got, this city never really seemed to change. It was the light, the constant nauseating mix of neon and fluorescence that poured out from every shop window and street corner. Every other big city, Central, Coast, Metropolis, they grew and changed with the times, but Gotham seemed trapped in its Sixties Art Deco phase forever.

He stood up, groaning with the effort. Age hadn't been kind to him. He was pushing sixty but his joints were convinced he was in his eighties, judging by the way they creaked and ached him every time it got cold.

Not that he'd been especially kind to them over the years. He'd spent his twenties and thirties brainwashed by a doctor named Simon Hurt, dressing in a third-rate Batsuit and terrorizing the people of Gotham under the pretense of becoming the Batman's successor. In his early forties, he became Azrael, and could have redeemed himself if not for the machinations of Ra's Al Ghul, once again manipulated into hurting the Bat and his family. Nightwing had saved his mind, but couldn't save his soul; Lane was certain of that much.

So, here he was. An old man who got his family killed, himself manipulated by not one but two supervillains, and for what? All he had to show for it was the Suit Of Sorrows, and he couldn't bear to put it on again after what he'd done the last time he became Azrael.

He strode across his apartment to his bedroom. He reached out and touched a framed picture on the wall. His wife and child, playing in a park. He'd taken the photo himself, saved years for the camera. He grimaced as he remembered that he'd had to burn that same camera, along with half his other possessions that had been covered in goat's blood by so-called "Satanists" that had invaded his home. He tilted the picture to the side and machines in the wall began to whir, as the wall opposite him slid out of place. It revealed a display case, six feet of glass behind which sat a white suit of armor and two swords.

The Suit Of Sorrows. Once like a second skin to him, it had become a symbol of his ultimate failure, but he couldn't find a reason to get rid of it. It seemed wrong to him to simply dispose of the suit. To Lane, it was akin to burying a dog you hit with your car to hide it. One can't simply tuck away their sin and think that it counts as penance.

No, he figured, that wouldn't do at all. But he reasoned that it may be time that he atoned for his sins after all these years of hiding. The Batman had been gone for nearly eight years, and though Robin and his new sidekick had done an admirable job keeping the city safe, Gotham was fraying at the edges. No one could do what Batman had done.

 _No one,_ he thought, _But Azrael._

 _ **/**_

 **AN: Just a taste. Update tomorrow.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Freeze

John Brown, the First Bank Of Gotham's chief security officer, hated Gotham in the winter. He hated Gotham the rest of the time, too, but he especially hated it in the chilly months.  
He would swear that his bushy red moustache was dripping icicles, and tonight, it felt even colder than usual.

He'd holed up in his office, leaving the unenviable job of patrolling the exterior of the building to his young partner for the night, in hopes that he might avoid the negative temperature of the outside air. Even with his tiny space heater cranked to its maximum setting he felt chilled to the bone.

"Jesus." He said with a shiver, and stood up, jogging a little in place in the hopes of getting some warm blood flowing. He waggled the mouse on his desktop, the tiny Superman screensaver fading away to show the security camera displays. Interior was still quiet, as was the vault. He clicked to view the exterior cameras, and he saw his partner on the street, a wince visibly frozen on their face. John chuckled to himself. _Poor kid must be freezing out there,_ he thought to himself. But the longer he looked, the less he saw his partner move. In fact, they seemed… literally frozen. He could see the snowfall around them, so the feed wasn't lagging. But they were totally motionless, and that wince looked awfully like one of pain, and _christ_ , why is it so _cold_ in here?

He heard a ringing _beep_ in his ears, as though it was coming from inside his own head. Then came pain, with a sickeningly wet crackle, and John didn't even have time to cry out as his blood vessels burst froze and his joints twisted and contorted. He hit the ground, eyes bloodshot and skin faded blue, and the last thing he saw was the sole of a cleated boot rushing toward his face.

 **/**

"You see that?" Said a woman in body armor, turning to her compatriot as they both filled bags up with money from the recently-opened vault. "Those guards just snap-froze. We didn't even have to touch them!"

"How'd he do that?" Her partner asked, adjusting the tight blue mask over his face. "I thought his whole thing was, like, cold guns, or whatever."

"Nanobots. Can you believe that?" She said, shaking her head. "He paid one of the tellers to slip something into the coffeemaker before the bank closed. We all thought it was poison or tranquilizer or somethin'. Turns out, it was plain old water full of these little robots, and the robots had the stuff from his cold gun in 'em. It's wild."

The male thug rolled his eyes. "Nanobots? Man, I miss the old days. Sure, you had your gimmicks and your costumed criminals, but there was none of this espionage stuff."

"Oh, sure there was. We just wasn't a part of it. You and I both know that espionage was Catwoman's whole gig. Penguin too."

"Yeah, maybe. I'm just nostalgic for when these jobs were simple, y'know? Surely ol' domehead misses the days when he could walk all over these cops with nothing but a spacesuit and a raygun."

"What I miss," Came a robotic, accented voice behind them, "Is the days when I could trust my henchmen to work and not _gossip._ " With a flash of bright light, the male henchman was left frozen in a five-foot-nine block of ice. The woman dropped her eyes to the drawer of cash she was unloading, suddenly incredibly interested in the finer features of Benjamin Franklin's face.

"That's better." Said Mr. Freeze, leaving her to her work. They'd have the place clean before long; Freeze had chosen the smallest branch in Gotham for a reason. Low risk, but a reward just high enough to pay for his latest round of treatments for Nora. He'd need to organize another soon, but for now, this money would do.

He rounded the corner from the vault, stepping in a pool of water on his way to the entrance. He lifted his foot curiously. He was certain the floor had been dry when he entered the bank. And his gun was fully charged, so that wasn't an issue…

Freeze reached the entrance, to find that the doors were no longer frozen shut. There had been a two foot ice wall between those doors and the interior, too, where now was a massive puddle. Very few people could have gotten through without alerting anyone. He smirked.

"Have the little Robins come to play?" He said, turning his eyes to the rafters of the bank. "You will have to do better than melting a little ice to earn my attention, children. I have learned the tricks of your mentor over the years." Freeze yelled out into the bank, cranking the speakers on his suit to their maximum volume, "Men! Come to me! They will not be able to pick us off if we are in a pack."

He waited, but grimaced as he realized no one would be answering his call. He had already made the mistake of turning his back. Once again, he could depend only on himself and the ray in his hands. He slowly turned, backing toward the entrance, intending to make a break for it. Better to escape with nothing than be captured. "Robins, much as I would love to stay and play, I'm afraid I must take my leave." He backed into something.

"Not Robin." Growled a deep voice in his hear. "And you're going nowhere, scum."

Freeze whirled around, firing a shot from his ray gun that strayed wild, making a solid line of ice up the wall and ceiling. He briefly saw a cape and a cowl before the shadowy figure wearing them rushed him down with inhuman speed, landing a kick to his leg that made Freeze cry out in pain.

"No, no, you're _dead_!" Freeze screamed, managing to stay on his feet. This person - Batman? - was quick. He had to stay defensive. He switched the ray gun to a wider spray, getting a thin sheet of ice between him and his attacker. Freeze knew this bought him only seconds, and he used that time to dig out three small devices from his suit's compartments.

Just as he'd thought, the wall didn't last him long, his adversary bursting through it head first with fervor. He tossed the devices to the floor and they exploded with a _crack_ , just as the figure landed on his knees, freezing him to the ground. As he struggled to get unstuck from the ice trap, Freeze got a closer look at him. Not Batman, after all. A white cowl with a red cape, broken up like some kind of Crusade banner. He didn't know this one. Didn't much care.

"The last thing Gotham needs," Freeze said as he placed the barrel of the ray gun onto the man's forehead. "Is another vigilante." He pulled the trigger, heard a _thunk_ and felt something hit the back of his suit, and the visor of his suit went dark. His gun hadn't fired, and he lost his heads-up display. "What?" He muttered, and turned to see a bright red blur coming at him fast. He ducked, heard a _whoosh_ over his head as whatever attack it was missed his face, and countered with a hard uppercut. It connected with the groin of this new arrival, and he wasted no time in following with a headbutt. He saw his visor crack just above his eye level as it made contact with the face of none other than Robin.

"Now you show up." He huffed, swinging his gun like a club at Robin's side. With a _clank_ of metal on metal, the gun was yanked back, and Freeze watched helplessly as it flew across the room connected to a grapnel hook.

"Good one, Signal!" Yelled Robin, still staggered by the blow to his head. He went after Freeze once more, going for a sliding tackle and connecting with the villain's ankles. Freeze toppled to the ground, landing on his back with a groan. Signal crossed the room to assist, tossing the ray gun to the ground and taking Robin's side. Freeze stood up, putting his hands behind his head.

"Fine! Fine. You've got me." He said, face bloody from the broken glass of his visor. "I surrender." He took a step toward them.

Signal couldn't suppress a grin. "Wow. That was easier than I thought."

Robin didn't respond, keeping a close eye on Freeze as the villain advanced toward them. His body language wasn't right. Too confident for surrender. Freeze still thought he had the upper hand. But how…

Too late, Robin realized what was happening, and tackled Signal to the ground, attempting to shield him with his cape as Freeze ripped the EMP device from his back and threw a cluster of freeze bombs at them, his suit coming back online just in time to detonate them. Robin felt intense tingles of pain and then numbness as his cape and the back of his legs were frozen to the ground.

"Idiot." He said through gritted teeth. "Why would you put the EMP where we can't see it?" Signal tried to respond, but could only stutter as Robin tried viciously to tear himself away from the ice to no avail. Freeze advanced on them with anger, not even bothering to get his gun.  
No, he would kill them the old-fashioned way.

Suddenly, pain. Intense and searing, all up his left side, and he looked over in horror to see that he had been run through by a flaming sword. He turned his head, well as he could in his suit, and locked eyes with the figure in the white cowl - Azrael.

"Repent, Freeze." He growled, and Freeze fainted.

 **/**

Robin, Signal, and Azrael sat on top of the First Bank of Gotham, as the police cleaned out the scene below. As they watched Freeze get carted away in an ambulance stocked with about fifty bags of ice, Signal turned to Robin.

"Listen, I'm sorry about the EMP. I thought putting it on his back would-"

"-Jeopardize the mission? Then, yes, you were correct. We'll talk about that later." Robin said with a sniffle. Signal deflated, but remained silent. "What I'm more concerned about right now," He said, "Is what _you_ are doing operating in Gotham." He planted a finger in Azrael's chest, which was promptly brushed off.

"I'm repenting for my sins, Boy Wonder. My life has been spent in service to madmen, and cults, and all manner of evil. I've been brainwashed, it seems, longer than I have been sane. No longer. I wish to protect the night, and honor the Batman, as you do."

"You're no protector, Azrael. You're a psychopath, and a zealot. Even if you have reformed, I don't want you in my city, and certainly not running swords through criminals."

"I know my history, Robin. You're just as guilty of that last as I am."

" _Tt."_

"I saved your lives tonight. I brought down Freeze with you. I understand that you may not trust me yet, but I beg you to let me earn it. Please."

Robin looked at Signal, who shrugged back at him. He turned back to Azrael, and before he could speak, a plume of orange flame leapt high in the sky to the east. The _boom_ of an explosion reached their ears a moment later with the shockwave rippling their capes. Signal watched in horror as he saw flames climbing higher from a building that was as tall as it was wide.

"That's Elliot Memorial Hospital." He said.

"So it is." Said Robin. He pulled his hood back over his head and pressed his comm unit to his ear. "Oracle, call Red Robin and Batgirl. We'll need all hands." He turned to Azrael. "You want to prove yourself, Lane? Now would be the time."

In one fluid motion, Robin dived off the building, Signal following close behind. Azrael dove after them, unsurprised to find that they had already disappeared. No matter. He'd find his own way to the hospital.

Far above the city, the familiar glowing 'R' of the Robin signal flickered out, and was replaced in the sky by a bright red 'A'.


End file.
